Tri Cities Maternity Session

Gerrit + Emily, welcoming their first baby girl into the world, reached out to me to help document some of their last moments as two before baby came earthside at their Tri Cities, WA maternity session. This was my first time at this location, a bucket list location of mine and it was insanely perfect.

I have known Emily since we were practically babies, ok more like 5 but basically babies. Our parents were really good friends and we grew up together. Originally, we had planned to meet up while the couple was on their babymoon in Cannon Beach but about a week before, Emily reached out and said “I don’t think we’re going out to the coast next week. I have been extremely nauseous this whole pregnancy and don’t know if i can make it 5 and a half hours in the car” so obviously, i said “say no more” and sent her this location that was close to them and thus– we ended up here!

This location was about 15 minutes from the central tri cities area of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland off the side of the road. There’s only a handful of parking spots, less than ten. There is a hike up to the main location where we were at, it was pretty steep but short. It is at the top of a plateau so I could see it being pretty windy. Luckily when we were there in August, it was quite warm so there wasn’t a ton of wind. We started the session at mid/end golden hour and went into blue hour and the lighting was otherworldly.

Gerrit + Emily wore cooler colors, like green and blue which reeeallly worked well with the scenery since it was very warm toned but with hits of that blue/green from some of the sage grass. The difference in tones helped them stand out from the background but with Gerrit wearing a light top, still made the images look light and delicate. Also, something that I think also worked really well was how Emily was in a patterned outfit and gerrit was in some neutrals that color compliments the colors + tones in the pattern of Emily’s dress. 

Are you looking to have some maternity photos taken? Here are some tips I recommend to anyone to help their session go as well as possible. 

First thing, when scheduling your session, I always suggest scheduling between 32-35 weeks. Pregnancy is so different for everyone and in the past, if we are in that 36-38 week area, it feels like we are racing the clock to get them done before baby comes and that can be stressful and not make the experience go as seamless as you’d like. 

Two, be you. A lot of times when styling and planning outfits, it s a fun time to try new things but when doing this and we’re only trying these styles for pictures, you may get the photos back and eel a disconnect because they just don’t quite feel like you.

Three, plan something you’re excited about and add some personality into them. Starting in 2024 I will be adding styling/ planning calls onto sessions but if we are working together and we haven’t quite had our meeting, you can start brainstorming things your family likes to do and we can add that into the session. Whether that be a card game, picnics, favorite drinks, or your farm animals we can work that into your session to really show who you guys are as a family.

Four, refer to your styling guide I send you when looking for outfits. There is so much good information in there about color theory and how to make patterns + colors work together. Also, if there is a session that you really liked the vibe of, you can look to see how the location colors and outfit colors looked together and draw inspiration from there. When doing this, its best to look at the photographer you’re working with to see how colors look through their editing style.